You must try these functions of the big updates

With iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple released the next major updates to its mobile operating systems on several iPhones and iPads on September 20th. We have collected for you some of the most interesting jobs, which you should take a closer look at.

With iOS 15 brings An apple All kinds of minor improvements for iPhone users. The update to iPadOS 15 includes functions that have been available for iPhones since then iOS 14 Available. Since Monday, September 20, owners of compatible iPhone and iPad devices can install the new software. You can look forward to these features.

With iOS 15, Apple has a system for initially recognizing and capturing representative text. Live Text is integrated directly into Camera, Photos, and the Safari browser and uses object recognition (Optical Character Recognition – OCR) and artificial intelligence. Live Text works with both handwritten and typed text. Function supports German, English, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Portuguese, French, Italian and Spanish.

Text from an image or viewfinder can be highlighted and copied using copy and paste and paste elsewhere. The program also works with existing photos from the Photos app. Objects such as animals, plants, and other things can also be recognized and information can be recalled about them – a kind of Google Lens from Apple.

The iOS notification system is a build site that Apple works on regularly. The functionality has also been improved again with iOS 15 to offer more structure and control. For this purpose, the notification center you can find Settings > Planned overview can be activated.

iOS 15: With your notifications overview, for example, you’ll be less informed about emails at certain times. (screenshots: t3n)

With this feature, you can send less important messages to you in a planned manner. You will receive important things like calls, direct messages and urgent messages immediately, for others you can set a schedule so that you will receive them at the times or intervals you specify. You can also move notifications from the lock screen to the notification overview for later viewing.

It’s also gratifying that Apple has expanded app icons in notifications to make it easier to tell which app is included. Messages from iMessage will also show you a picture of the sender.

So that you don’t always have to be distracted by external influences while working, reading, or other activities, Apple has integrated a so-called Focus Mode as an extension of the Do Not Disturb functionality in iOS 15.

With the new focus mode, you can only let the relevant stuff connect with you. (screenshots: t3n)

With the help of the new function, you will only see notifications from certain apps and from people you have selected. During work, for example, this can be only messages from colleagues or, in your free time, only from your contacts. If you wish, the Focus app can make suggestions via artificial intelligence on which apps can be useful to you at a given time. The function can be turned on automatically according to the location or time of the day. In addition, focus settings are synced to your other Apple devices.

Apple offers a number of preset focus modes — including My Time, Work, Fitness, Game, Reading, and more. However, with the focus settings in question, you are not limited to the presets suggested by Apple, you can specify your own. Focus modes start automatically when you start a sports activity with your Apple Watch, open a reading app, or activate Apple Car Play.

Another new feature is that the Do Not Disturb status is shared with other iMessage contacts. You can turn the function on and off in the Control Center.

In order to exchange ideas with friends or family via Facetime, Apple has integrated 15 new ways to interact in iOS. One of the new functions is ‘Shareplay’, with which you can share media and screen content with your Facetime contacts. So you can watch movies or listen to music together, even if you are spatially separated and one is in Berlin and the other is in New York, for example. You can exchange ideas while consuming shared media via chat. The The function will only appear with iOS 15.1 or 15.2.

Shareplay is not coming to iPhones running iOS 15. (Image: Apple)

It is also worth noting at this point the opening Facetime video calls for Android and Windows users. Because a link to the video call you sent can be opened in the browser. Communication remains end-to-end encrypted.

Apple’s Safari browser gets its biggest update in recent years with iOS 15. The focus of the new version is on one-handed operation: The address bar and controls have been moved to the bottom, and should be easier to access with one hand. In addition, according to Apple, the update should focus on content.

Particularly noticeable is the new tab bar hovering at the bottom of the screen. Swiping left or right will take you to the nearest tab and back again. You can also create tab groups in the new Safari tab to keep things organized. Tab groups will also carry over to iPadOS and macOS Monterey.

iOS 15: Safari, optionally, gives you better one-handed operation. (screenshots: t3n)

After Apple gave its iPhone gadgets with iOS 14, it’s now the tablets’ turn with iPadOS 15. Unlike the iPhone, iPads have two places to store them: on the home screen, widgets can be arranged around apps, and they can also be dragged and managed from a tab on the left side of the screen. As with the iPhone, widgets can’t be arranged anywhere on the home screen, but are only pinned next to or between apps.

Latecomers: iPadOS 15 now brings App Media Library to iPads. (screenshot: t3n)

And the access to the App’s media library, which Apple had already given its iPhones with iOS 14, is also fun. To open the overview, Apple didn’t choose the last correct iPadOS home screen, instead an icon moved to the base of the apps. Thanks to this feature, you no longer have to distribute all your apps across multiple home screens or store them in folders.

iPadOS 15 improves multitasking functionality. (screenshot: t3n)

iPadOS supports some multitasking functions such as split window and sliding functions since 2019. With iPadOS 15, Apple made these functions easier to access via a multitasking icon in the form of three small dots. It all improves usability, but it doesn’t make iPads a complete notebook replacement.

App Privacy Report: iOS 15 brings more data protection and transparency. (Screenshot: Apple/t3n)

You should also keep Apple’s new “App Privacy Report” functionality on your screen. Because it provides an overview of which apps have been able to access your location data, photos, cameras, microphones, and contacts in the past seven days. You can also see what other domains an app is connected to. However, like Shareplay, the functionality won’t be ready with iOS 15, but will only appear with a follow-up update during the fall.

Apple’s Siri is the smartest among the voice assistants, but it’s part of the system. With iOS and iPadOS 15, Siri should be a little faster and also work partially offline. Setting a timer, reading messages, or controlling playback without internet access should also work.

Also worth noting are the advertisement notifications on Airpods and the ability to share your screen content via voice commands. So Siri has also gotten a little smarter.